Children's Hospital of Philadelphia engages in a large variety of global health activities coordinated through the Global Health Center. Pediatric trainees at CHOP, including pediatric residents, are encouraged to explore a wide variety of global health activities during their residency years at CHOP.

In Her Words

The Global Health Center at CHOP is at the forefront of confronting the challenges of pediatric global health. The Global Health Center promotes knowledge, action and scholarly involvement in global pediatric medicine, and resident activities contribute to all of these important areas.

Guiding principles

The Department of Pediatrics and the Pediatrics Residency Program believe that pediatric global health is a valuable component of the training of future pediatricians and includes many learning opportunities during pediatric residency at CHOP.

In order to maximize the full potential of the Global Health education for residents with strong interest in pursuing Global Health in their future careers, the  Residency Program and the Department of Pediatrics support residents taking electives in global settings that occur under approved pediatric supervision during the second or third year of residency training. These electives allow residents to gain valuable global health experience, and are structured to provide a scholarly experience with well-defined learning objectives and outcomes.

PL3s are given the highest priority during the scheduling of Global Health electives abroad. There is limited funding provided for Global Health elective travel that helps to offset travel and living expenses. The amount varies depending on the number of residents traveling each year.

CHOP provides further assistance for international electives completed at one of the Global Health partner sites in the Dominican Republic or Botswana, such as:

• Medical and evacuation travel insurance
• Occupational health assistance with immunizations
• Travel medicine counseling needed for the international location
• Medical liability insurance coverage

Non-CHOP Global Health designated sites may be approved for international electives if both ABP and program requirements are met. For non-CHOP electives, a Program Letter of Agreement (PLA) must be implemented through CHOP Graduate Medical Education.

Global Health Track

The Global Health Track within CHOP’s Residency Program is designed to provide educational opportunities that will develop pediatricians interested in careers that will address domestic and international health disparities. The program is a joint venture between the Pediatric Residency Program and the Global Health Center.

Over the course of residency, the trainees will develop an understanding of general principles related to health and health systems of children in developing countries and apply those principles to underserved populations within the United States and during their electives abroad. Through numerous learning opportunities, the Global Health Track (GHT) residents will learn and develop culturally sensitive care and apply these skills to all patients and their families in both the domestic and international setting.

Each year, one first-year resident position is held for the global health track application. While all residents are offered the opportunity to participate in one global health elective rotation during residency, the GHT is geared towards residents who anticipate that global health will represent a significant aspect of their career.

Unique aspects of track residents include global health faculty mentorship and career guidance, at least two 4-week clinical rotations at an international site, and multiple opportunities to participate in global health educational sessions (including didactic courses, local global health activities, exposure to broader global health offerings at the University of Pennsylvania, and additional global health lectures and activities).

Interested students will apply using the ERAS system, and will rank the track separately from the Categorical Pediatrics training program in the NRMP system.

Learning opportunities

A variety of educational activities exist in Global Health, including ongoing global health lectures, global health electives, the annual Pediatric Global Health Conference, the David N. Pincus Pediatric Global Health Fellowship and other activities related to international child health.

Global Health provides an ongoing quarterly lecture series covering a wide array of pediatric global health topics given by attending physicians and other noted speakers.

• Global Health supports a resident-run global health interest group that leads case conferences and other activities throughout the academic year, discussing current academic articles or topics related to global issues in pediatric healthcare.
• Global Health provides educational activities that enrich the global health experience for CHOP pediatric residents, such as Grand Rounds speakers, the Annual Pediatric Global Health Conference and other educational events.
• Global Health electives are carefully planned in order to provide a scholarly global health experience in a safe and supportive site. The electives are approved by the Medical Director of Global Health along with the Pediatric Residency Program leadership. Completion of a successful global health elective requires much planning and residents should contact the medical director of Global Health early in order to have sufficient time to meet the requirements of the elective.

Global Health sites

Dominican Republic

CHOP Global Health has an active community-based pediatric health program in The Dominican Republic called the Niños Primeros en Salud (NPS). In 2005, CHOP partnered with a medical clinic, the Centro de Salud Divina Providencia, in the town of Consuelo in the Dominican Republic. Our ongoing collaboration provides pediatric primary care to impoverished Dominican and Haitian children living in local barrios and remote villages (bateyes) where their parents work on sugar cane plantations. Additionally, CHOP Global Health provides ongoing education to community health workers (Health Promoters), clinicians at the Niños Primeros en Salud (NPS), and the batey communities to achieve sustainable improvement in children’s health.

Pediatric residents from a regional pediatric hospital, the Hospital Robert Reid Cabral, also serve in the NPS program. In order to reduce early childhood mortality, clinical programs of the NPS target well-defined needs in the community, including malnutrition, vaccine-preventable illnesses, parasitic infections and improved access to care. CHOP pediatric residents who participate in a Global Health elective in the Dominican Republic work within the NPS clinic, and have a month-long rotation tailored to their individual learning objectives.

Botswana

CHOP Global Health also works with the Botswana-University of Pennsylvania Partnership (BUP) in Gaborone, Botswana. Global Health in Botswana focuses on strengthening the local University of Botswana School of Medicine and building capacity in the Department of Pediatrics at Princess Marina Hospital. Faculty from the University of Botswana supervise CHOP pediatric residents who complete electives in the hospital setting at Princess Marina Hospital in Botswana.

Numerous pediatric residents complete pediatric global health electives at one of the partner sites described above. Resident electives are four weeks in duration.